I Want the Moon
by Heaven's Eagle
Summary: That is what Mani wants. The one time Scott got the chance to prevent someone else being turned. Post-Season 2.


**Just a scene that my plotbunnies presented me with. My muse is a fickle thing - fickle, I say. Both canon-compliant and vaguely AUish, takes place directly following the second season. Warnings for swearing. And no, I'm not planning to expand it, unless people really _really_ want me to.**

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Woods or not, Derek was the last person he wanted to see. It was bad enough that he sent his little pack after him at school – bad enough that they ambushed him hightailing it from Alison's. No, the one time he got to let go and run, the afternoon that everyone was safe and he didn't have to worry about anyone killing anyone, Derek had to be _right there_.

"What do you _want_, Derek?‼" Scott yelled, feeling his body align and his muscles slide over each other, ready to shift, ready to fight. Pain shot through his fingertips as his nails hardened and sharpened, pulling at the delicate skin as they did.

The Alpha smirked at him, eyes flickering down and flashing red, proving just how unimpressed he was by Scott's display. "You know what I want. You keep saying no, Scott, but I won't stop telling you. You're one of _us_, Scott. You belong with us." Shrugging slightly in that smug fucking leather jacket of his, Derek smiled darkly, laughing to himself. "Eventually you'll accept it. Maybe after Alison tries to kill you. Or after her _family_ locks her away because of you." The words became threatening, hard and angry.

And once more, his eyes flickered red.

A low growl built in Scott's chest, bubbling through his throat. Maybe it was because he'd been prepared to run free through the trees, or maybe it was the Alpha's Aura that Derek wore like a welcome cloak, but Scott's inner animal was howling, and he was inclined to indulge it.

The peculiar heat filled his eyes, and he knew they were shining yellow in the dappled sunlight. But for once, he honestly didn't care. If Derek wanted to fight, that was fine. He might lose, but he wouldn't lose easily.

"Shut up," Derek ordered suddenly, straightening up, looking around. Irritation taking its hold, Scott ignored the order and opened his mouth to roar his challenge, feeling heat and pain shoot through his jaw as his teeth began to lengthen. In a flash, Derek had his shirt gripped shockingly tight in one hand, Scott's back scraping against a tree hard enough to draw blood. Eyes glowing scarlet, he leaned in close and hissed, "_Shut. Up._ You were followed."

The words rang with his power, and even though Scott refused to join his pack or submit to him as Alpha, it shivered under his skin and clamped his jaws shut. Slowly, his non-human features melted away, leaving him looking as normal as it got. And the fact that his body obeyed in spite of his will infuriated him – but Scott still did not verbally protest. He just shoved Derek away.

Carefully, he sniffed the air, but nothing was amiss.

Behind them, the leaves rustled and twigs snapped suddenly, and they spun around. Standing there, watching with a nervous posture, rapid heartbeat and carefully unafraid eyes was a girl. Scott thought he knew her face, but he couldn't place it, nor did a name spring to mind.

"Who are you?" Derek demanded, and even without the effect of the Alpha, Scott knew he was commanding enough to elicit obedience from most people. She swallowed nervously, gaze flickering to Scott for a moment, and then returning to rest firmly on Derek.

In a voice that was quiet but clear, like half-forgotten wind chimes, she replied. "I'm Mani."

Recognition raised an eager hand in the back of Scott's brain, but he couldn't for the life of him grasp where he'd heard the name before, and he tilted his head at her, feeling his face scrunch up as he struggled to remember. With a surprising amount of venom, she glanced at him again.

"Scott should have known. I share all my classes with him."

Immediate confusion flared in him. "No you don't!" he protested. "I'd remember you if you did." For a few moments, she stared at him, and Scott started to wonder where the anger was coming from, when her heartbeat was still so fast and she fidgeted so obviously in the presence of the werewolves.

But she turned back to Derek without further comment. Looking sideways, Scott saw a contemplative expression on Derek's face as he studied her, lips twisted into his signature smirk. The girl either wasn't a hunter, or she was far too good an actor to be anywhere but on the big screen, and somehow Scott doubted the latter. The posture, and even the heart rate could be faked, if one was talented enough, but the faint tang of nervous fear that wafted from her skin couldn't.

"I want…" she began, her voice faltering. "I want…"

Derek smiled, all teeth and no warmth. Carefully, he stepped up to Mani's level, tipping his head. "What is it that you want, Mani?"

She took a trembling breath, and looked straight into Derek's eyes. "I want the moon. Like you have the moon. Like Scott has it."

In the background of Scott's panic, Derek's laughter hummed through the air. Quite honestly, Scott didn't know which of his urgent questions he needed to ask first. Who the hell was she? How did she know about any of this? Why did she _want_ this shitty… whatever it was he had, if she did know? And _how_ did she know?

"So, how did you find out about… the moon?" Derek asked, his voice low and silky. Scott felt like throwing up – because Derek was everything but as calm as he sounded.

Mani looked up, and then back at Scott, and then back to Derek. "I'm quiet," she murmured. "And your friends aren't as subtle as they think they are. I've heard them discuss lycanthropes at school often enough to believe what they say," she added, and her voice was quiet. If Scott concentrated really, really hard, he might be able to remember her face, in the background of his classes, just nearby on occasion, and far more frequently, in recent times.

Her heart didn't stutter, her voice didn't waver. Mani wasn't lying.

"You idiot," Derek snapped over his shoulder. "A human girl who just kept her mouth shut. Now, _she'd_ make a clever werewolf. Not like the rest of you morons," Derek spat. "She might even _survive_."

Derek didn't see. But Scott was still looking at Mani, and he saw the annoyed expression in her eyes as Derek spoke.

"You can't be serious," Scott tried, scrambling closer. Whoever this girl really was, she was innocent. She could still grow up, live a normal life, do whatever normal girls did. She didn't _have_ to throw it away. She didn't _have_ to be stupid. Instead of cursing herself with this life, she could still walk away. "You don't want this. You might think you do, but you don't!" he insisted when she opened her mouth.

After a moment, Mani shut her mouth, staring at him as if inviting him to continue. "You still have a chance to live a normal life!" Scott tried. He had to protect everyone else, and he hadn't been able to save a lot of people. But maybe, just this once, he could stop someone from doing this. "You don't want this," he said softly. "You might think you do, but you don't. It sucks, Mani. Go home, before it's too late. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"I think she might," Derek interrupted, folding his arms and watching the girl, smug leather jacket and all. "Why else would she follow you here?"

"Do you?" Scott half-yelled incredulously, because surely someone who knew what would happen to them wouldn't be crazy enough to actually _ask_ for this crap‼

Mani half-shrugged tightly, clearly still uncomfortable. "I know. I know enough to know what I'm getting myself into."

"_Do you_?" Scott shouted, advancing a step. Mani stepped back from him, but her eyes flashed angrily and she didn't run away or turn around. "You don't know anything! This isn't _fun_, Mani! You're going to ruin your life! You just can't!"

So what if he was yelling? So what if there was a flicker of indignant fury in her stare, so what if her heart rate was smoothing into a steady beat? She was just an innocent girl, she had no idea what she was doing. And maybe just this once, he could save her. Just maybe, if she walked away now, it would be done and nothing more would said about it. If Scott could save this one person, then maybe it wasn't hopeless.

Silently, Derek watched the exchange, no doubt testing whether he would be willing to grant the girl 'the moon'.

When she spoke again, Mani's voice was sharp as her displeasure overrode her fear. "_Yes_, I know what I'm getting into, you impudent mutt," she snapped. "I know it won't be easy. I'll have to be chained down at the full moon in case I lose control, to make sure I don't kill anybody. I know I might want to kill people – even people I care about. _Especially_ somebody I care about. I know that I'm going to be able to hear things and smell things and that, at first, my senses are going to overwhelm me. I _know_ it's going to suck at first. I'm going to have to work. I'm going to have to train and train and it's going to _hurt_." Mani took the step back towards Scott, meeting his astonished, horrified stare with one of defiance. "So don't you dare think for one second that you get to make my decisions for me."

For a minute, there was only silence in the woods. And then, with a slight clap and scrape of leather, Derek approached. "Well, I'm convinced. New pack members always welcome," he added, grinning broadly.

Scott didn't know if it was because he finally had a pack member who wasn't a total psychopath, or because he just enjoyed watching Scott flounder, but Derek was too happy. Perhaps it was a mixture of both. But nevertheless, no matter what, he couldn't let anyone else suffer like this.

"Wait!" he said, throwing an arm out to halt Derek's progress. "How can you think that this is alright, knowing all that? How can you possibly want this? It's a curse, Mani! It'll ruin your life!"

She got close. Like, she got _real_ close. Their bodies nearly touched, her nose was merely an inch away from his. Scott could see every flaw in her dark grey eyes, every pattern. And when she spoke, it was quiet, and hissed between her teeth. "It's my choice, Scott. You don't want to be a lycanthrope, _fine_. But don't you ever, **ever** assume that it means you get to choose what _I_ want. _**Ever**_. How dare you think your opinion counts in what I do with my life?"

Then, snapping twigs underfoot, she stalked over to Derek. "Back off, Scott."


End file.
